Details of capital spending
Midlands Prison
Project objectives:Develop new 400-inmate prison.
Initial estimate:€52.5 million
Actual cost: €56.2 million, for revised 515-inmate prison.
Initial estimated completion date:November 1999
Actual completion date:April 2002
Remarks:The brainchild of the FF-PD government of 1997, the prison was regarded by the review group as probably the best-built prison in the country. However, there were a number of problem areas. The internal windows throughout did not meet "pre-specified standards" of ventilation and closure and required altering. Prisoner education rooms were located on the third floor, above the second floor staff facilities. This was deemed to be a "security risk". The bakery did not meet "the standards necessary for such use" and its use was changed. There are problems with the acoustics in the visiting area.
The prison exercise yards are too close to the perimeter wall meaning drugs can be thrown over to prisoners. The segregation unit had never been used "for operational reasons" to the end of last year, when the review was completed.
St Patrick's Institution
Project objectives:Construction of self-contained education and detention centre for offenders aged 14 and 15
Initial estimate:€6.75 million
Actual cost:€7.8 million
Initial estimated completion date:November 2002
Actual completion date:Completed April 2003 but has never opened.
Remarks:The project was sanctioned by the FF-PD government in 2002 after two gardaí were killed in 2001 by so-called joyriders aged 14 and 15. It was decided to build this centre in St Patrick's until the Department of Education, which had responsibility for children of this age, provided a facility. The review group found the speed of the government's decision "created major challenges for the Irish Prison Service and represented a major departure from its core functions and capital programme objectives". The group found the finished project was "admirable, sympathetic and highly innovative". However, while the "Special School", as it became known, would "likely have served its intended purpose well", it was never opened.
Limerick Prison
Project objectives: Replacement of "ancient" wings with modern facilities.
Initial estimate: €7.1 million
Actual cost:€15.2 million
Initial estimated completion date:May 2000
Actual completion date:December 2004
Remarks:Approved by the FF-PD government in 1998, the review group concluded the project achieved major improvements to the prison, lifting staff and prisoner morale. However, the review noted the significant drifts in cost and timescale of the project. While some of this was due to the widening of the scope of the works much was due to "design flaws prior to contract, surveying errors (and) changing security requirements".
Portlaoise Prison
Project objectives:Development of new modern and secure high-security Gatelock.
Initial estimate:€7.7 million
Actual cost:€9.21 million
Initial estimated completion date:February 2003
Actual completion date:February 2004
Remarks:Sanctioned by the FF-PD government in 2001, the review concluded that the project ran over budget because of the need for more detailed design work before construction.
However, it regarded the Gatelock as a modern and secure entry point to the prison which allows for much more thorough checking of vehicles entering and exiting the prison. Minor problems have occurred relating to sewage and odour.
Wheatfield Prison
Project objectives:Development of new laundry and workshops and extension of existing workshops
Initial estimate:€7 million
Actual cost:€8.06 million (including consultancies)
Initial estimated completion date:November 2003
Actual completion date:August 2004
Remarks:Sanctioned by the FF-PD government in 2001, the review team concluded the project was a worthwhile addition to the "activities-based" prison. The new laundry was needed because when the construction of the jail was completed in 1989, the laundries were so small they could handle prison bedding but not inmates' clothes.
Instead clothes were sent to the inmates' homes to be washed, with many containing drugs when they were returned. The new metal workshops were found to have fume extraction problems while the new paint shop was found to have heat and ventilation problems. The machines in the laundry were situated in cages meaning they have to be moved when even minor problems, such as a blocked filter, arise.